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The Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority will be seeking a new executive director because John Jamian’s three-year contract ended today, and he’s not returning.

It’s not immediately clear if Jamian chose not to return, or the authority’s five-member board preferred a new top executive.

A message requesting comment from port authority board members was left with the port’s business staff. No plans have been disclosed for finding a new executive director.

Jamian, 59, was hired in June 2011 for a second stint as the authority’s executive director. He also had the job from 1997 to 2001.

“I accomplished everything I needed to accomplish in three years,” Jamian said.

When asked directly if the board didn’t want him to return, and whether he sought a new or extended deal, Jamian would say only that his deal was for three years and that he has other work he wants to do.

Jamian said he intends to work for the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Detroit Wayne County Port Foundation that aids the port authority in maritime education, preservation, environmental stewardship and what it terms other public welfare functions.

“I’m going to work to make that financially strong,” he said.

He didn’t specify whether that would be in a paid or volunteer capacity.

He said he’s especially interested in working with seafaring and maritime education for school children.

“It’s kind of a real passion of mine because I grew up in Detroit,” he said. “I want to be able to give young Detroit students the opportunity to learn about our maritime history.”

One of Jamian’s pet issues with the port authority was getting Michigan environmental law governing ballast for oceangoing cargo ships relaxed to match the rules in Ontario and other Great Lakes states.

The rule prompts vessels to unload in Toledo and Windsor rather than Detroit, in an attempt to limit any waterborne invasive species in Michigan waters, and easing the law would mean 40 or 50 additional ships would ply Michigan’s ports, Jamian has long said.

That issue remains yet to be resolved.

Economic development goals were a mixed bag during his tenure.

The authority completed construction of a $15 million, 21,000-square-foot ship terminal and $7.1 million offshore wharf to serve cruise ships and other deep-draft vessels in the Detroit River bringing tourists (and their money) to the city.

On the other hand, the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. and others, including then-Mayor Dave Bing, in 2012 expressed worry about Jamian’s effort to seek new bonding capacity for the authority, saying it would be a confusing replication of economic development services in Detroit.

Jamian’s objective was to allow the port authority to issue bonds for projects away from the largely built-out Detroit River waterfront, and do so without oversight from local government.

It also could finance nonport projects, but the effort has stalled in the Legislature.

The authority would benefit from the fees generated by the bonds, and that money was intended to reduce the organization’s reliance on tax subsidies, Jamian told Crain’s in 2012.

The authority’s current budget comes from an $800,000 subsidy provided by the city, county and state, and $200,000 generated by the commercial and industrial port activity.

The port authority is permitted to finance projects related to the port facilities or development along the riverfront. For example, it was the conduit for $43 million in bonds issued in 2004 to aid construction of the Beaubien Place parking garage adjacent to the Renaissance Center.

Jamian in 2011 replaced Curtis Hertel Sr., a former Democratic House speaker and lobbyist, who left the port authority’s top position after then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm tapped him to be a deputy director overseeing energy in the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth.

Jamian left the port job previously to become executive director of the Armenian Assembly of America, a post he held until President George W. Bush appointed him deputy director of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration.

He was in that federal position, as deputy and then acting director, from 2003 until 2006. Since then he’s been a partner at the West Bloomfield Township office of Jamian, McElroy & Hamlin LLC, a government affairs consulting firm.

Jamian served in the Michigan House from 1991 to 1996 as a Republican from Bloomfield Hills.

The port authority board comprises two members appointed by the mayor of Detroit, two appointed by the Wayne County Commission and one by the governor.

The authority bills itself as “the primary public conduit between private sector businesses in the Port of Detroit and the public sector. In this role, the Port Authority offers assistance in capital finance, development, applications and disbursement of public sector and foundation grant programs.”

According to port authority statistics, companies contractually use its privately managed port facilities and terminals to manage 17 million tons of cargo annually. The port sees about 1,500 cargo vessel stops annually.

The port traffics primarily in steel and other industrial bulk commodities.

Thirty-one companies operate at the 29 terminals overseen by the authority. The authority owns the city’s only general cargo terminal.

The port stores about one-sixth of the nation’s aluminum supply in 1,000-pound ingot bars housed in bonded warehouses — taking advantage of the port being the largest U.S. free-trade zone.

The port authority was created by the Legislature in 1978 to replace the Detroit Wayne County Port District.